Tag Archives: 1983

Was you ever bit by a dead bee? – Eddie, 1944 movie To Have and Have Not

You might be under the impression that the “Bee Girl” era actually happened with Blind Melon’s song No Rain released in 1992. It actually goes back further than to 1983 with Joe Elliott decided to use Lauren Bacall’s dress in To Have and Have Not as inspiration for Julia Robert’s hooker dress in the movie Pretty Woman (see previous post “Oh! Pretty Woman).

One day Kurt kept pressuring me to come up with a new song. Joe Elliott was standing near by. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with them that day and I sat down on the stage. I said, “I’ve got no new tale to tell.”

After a minute, I stood up and started making up a song which became No New Tale To Tell performed by some of the former members of the band Bauhaus who formed the band Love and Rockets. The song was released on the 1987 album Earth, Sun, Moon album.

If you do not know who Bauhaus is, they were featured in David Bowie’s and Susan Sarandon’s ’83 cult classic The Hunger with their song from 1979 “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”.

The music video for No New Tale to Tale was the start of the Bee Girl era along with the image of a monkey, a symbol for Michael Jackson’s chimp Bubbles. This included Kurt Cobain’s collection of toy monkeys and the use of a toy monkey in the Alice In Chains music video Grind.

The idea to start naming bands for “fruit” came from the use of “peach” in Pour Some Sugar On Me performed by Def Leppard and U Got The Look performed by Prince and Shiela E. It also came from me joking around with INXS sayingthey were the vegetables and I being the fruit.

This is how I came up with the name when Billy Corgan asked me what he should name his band and I said “Smashing Pumpkins” and also named the band “Blind Melon”, with Melons and Pumpkins being a fruit.

The band Krokus which had been on tour with Def Leppard on the Rock Till You Drop Tour in 1983, released To Rock or Not to Be (a reference to the movie To Have and Have Not starring Bogey and Bacall) in 1995 also used the image on the cover art.

One day while Kurt (Cobain) and I were working on songs, he pulled a sheet of notebook paper out of his back pocket which happened to be the lyrics for what would become “Bee Girl” performed by Pearl Jam.

“Bee girl, you’re gonna die.You don’t wanna be famous, you wanna be shy.Do your dances alone in your room.Becoming a star will become your doom.Bee Girl, be a girl

You know time is long, and life is short.Begin to live while you still can.Believe in nothing, believe me, Those who can be trusted can change their mind.When the anxious is the present, unwrap your gifts, take your time.Everything you imagine needn’t be stuck in your mind.Bee Girl, be a girl… “ – Bee Girl performed by Pearl Jam

“She should have stayed away from friendsShe should have had more time to spendShe should have died when she was bornShe should have worn the crown of thornsShe should have been a son” – Been A Son, Nirvana

In 1983 Joe Elliott released to the press he received a scar over one of his eyes due to a fan throwing a coin from the crowd in Spain during a concert. It was his right eye and it wasn’t a coin.

Knowing Joe released this to the press I started yelling at him, “I want my nickel back!” after making up a new song. He would walk off smiling saying, “I know you do.”

I overheard someone ask why I said it was a nickel. I bought a souvenir at Rock City (see previous post “Legend Movie Origin”). The souvenir was only a nickel and in exchange received a wooden nickel back.

It was then later decided to choose band members who were Canadian citizens due to the Canadian football position called a Nickelback.

“‘Cause we all just wanna be big rockstarsAnd live in hilltop houses driving fifteen carsThe girls come easy and the drugs come cheapWe’ll all stay skinny ’cause we just won’t eatAnd we’ll hang out in the coolest barsIn the VIP with the movie starsEvery good gold digger’sGonna wind up thereEvery Playboy bunnyWith her bleach blond hair” – Rockstar performed by Nickelback

The song “Rockstar” was inspired by an article which Kurt Cobain showed me about Tom (Cruise) going to the Playboy Mansion to watch the Hagler-Hearns fight. I was making fun of him and others when I made up the song.

“Tarzan and Jane were swingin’ on a vineCandyman, CandymanSippin’ from a bottle of vodka double wineSweet sugar candy man” – Candyman performed by Christina Aguilera

In 1971 Sammy Davis, Jr. covered the Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory song “The Candy Man”. He performed this song many times on television shows while I was a little girl and happened to be a favorite of mine.

Michael Jackson did a little research and found out one of the producers of the “Sammy Davis, Jr.’s Now” album happened to be Don Costa who was best known for his work with Frank Sinatra. Costa had a daughter by the name of Nikka Costa who would go on to perform the song I wrote titled “Everybody’s Got Their Something.”

This inspired me to write the song “Candyman” performed by Christina Aguilera. It would also draw a connection to Pour Some Sugar On Me which I co-wrote with Joe Elliott and other songs I made up as well.

“Sippin’ from a bottle of vodka double wine”, was inspired by a photo of Joe Elliott of Def Leppard (see left) and the 1981 Def Leppard song Me & My Wine.

“He had tattoos up and down his arm”, I was referring to Tommy Lee of Motley Crue. This actually dates the song due to the few tattoos Tommy had when we met in 1983.

I had been a longtime fan of the actor Johnny Depp dating back to his first appearance in 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street and knowing the origin of the song starred in the 2005 remake of Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

Sunday, May 15, 1983, my friends invited me to the Def Leppard concert. I didn’t know who they were, but told it was a rock band. Of course, this was cool on so many levels being a 15 year old girl and never having been to a rock concert before.

Monday, May 16, 1983, I returned home from school, dropped my school books on the dresser as the doorbell rang. A young goodlooking guy with bright blue eyes smiled as I opened the door. Without a word he pointed to the old van parked at the top of my drive. The side door swung open and my mouth dropped as the lead singer in full stage costume exited. If the phone had not started ringing, distracting me, I might have been more concerned about how and why this man knew where I lived.

NOTE: In 1983 Def Leppard was on tour in the US promoting their January released Pyromania album as the support act for Billy Squier before embarking on their own Rock Till You Drop Tour. They ended the tour with Billy Squier in April of ’83 in Seattle and Oregon. May 15, 1983 the Swiss band Krokus was their opening act. Little known fact, Kurt Cobain was on the road crew for this tour.

Amy Lee

Singer, songwriter, founder of the band Evanescence. I was discovered by Joe Elliott, lead singer of Def Leppard, and a yet unknown Kurt Cobain in May of '83.
I am not the lead singer Amy Lynn Hartzler.